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A newsletter about the Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment System April 2013
About Us:
The Dynamic Learning Maps
Alternate Assessment System
Consortium is made up of 14 states
and additional partner agencies
developing the Dynamic Learning
Maps Alternate Assessment
System, a computer-based
assessment for the 1 percent of
the K-12 public school student
population with significant cognitive
disabilities for whom, even with
accommodations, general state
assessments are not appropriate.
Led by the Center for
Educational Testing and Evaluation
at the University of Kansas, DLM
is funded through a five-year-grant
awarded in late 2010 by the U.S.
Department of Education, Office of
Special Education Programs. The
assessment will be implemented
during the 2014-2015 school year.
The DLM Consortium is one of
two multistate consortia to receive
federal grants to create a next-generation
alternate assessment
linked to Common Core State
Standards in math and English
Language Arts for the 1 percent
population. DLM member states
are involved during every phase of
DLM-AAS development.
DLM Consortium States
Iowa • Kansas • Michigan
Mississippi • Missouri
New Jersey • North Carolina
Oklahoma • Utah • Vermont
Virginia • Washington
West Virginia • Wisconsin
Technology-Enhanced Items
The Dynamic Learning Maps
Alternate Assessment System
is a comprehensive assessment
system being designed to support
student learning and to more
validly measure what students with
significant cognitive disabilities
know and can do. It will mark the
first time that most students with
significant cognitive disabilities
are assessed using an online,
computer-based, large-scale state
assessment.
The DLM assessment will
include a mix of test items in
traditional multiple-choice formats
as well as in technology-enhanced
formats. When properly used, these
technology-enhanced items allow
student test-takers to demonstrate
some aspects of cognition better
than is possible with traditional
items on a paper-and-pencil test.
For example, items can be created
to require active sorting, labeling,
categorizing, or matching, not
just recognition. These processes
reflect typical classroom activities
and will therefore increase the
instructional relevance of the
assessment.
DLM will use computer
technology to allow students with
significant cognitive disabilities to
demonstrate what they know and
can do, but with the awareness that
technology has to be accessible in
order for students to experience its
benefits.
“Even though we are excited
to use the power of computer
technology as we continue
development of the DLM
assessment, we recognize that
technology can be a barrier
for some students,” said Neal
Kingston, DLM project director, “We
want to use the technology in a
meaningful way that doesn’t cause
additional barriers for students.”
Accordingly, DLM technology-enhanced
items are being
crafted in ways that account
for the following, which guide
development:
1) Some students will be able to
engage in technology-enhanced
items by using a
mouse.
2) Some students will not be
able to engage in technology-enhanced
items using a mouse
and might engage using touch
screen technology, one- or two-switch
scanning systems, or
other assistive technology
devices.
3) Some students, perhaps
10 percent of the approximately
1 percent who participate
in alternate assessments, are
operating at the pre-symbolic
or pre-intentional levels, or
have such significant
motor challenges that they will
not be able to interact with the
computer at all. Therefore,
DLM will provide ways for these
students to access the items
offline, outside of the computer-based
environment, and
then the teacher will enter the
student’s responses into the
computer.
see Technology on page 2

A newsletter about the Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment System April 2013
About Us:
The Dynamic Learning Maps
Alternate Assessment System
Consortium is made up of 14 states
and additional partner agencies
developing the Dynamic Learning
Maps Alternate Assessment
System, a computer-based
assessment for the 1 percent of
the K-12 public school student
population with significant cognitive
disabilities for whom, even with
accommodations, general state
assessments are not appropriate.
Led by the Center for
Educational Testing and Evaluation
at the University of Kansas, DLM
is funded through a five-year-grant
awarded in late 2010 by the U.S.
Department of Education, Office of
Special Education Programs. The
assessment will be implemented
during the 2014-2015 school year.
The DLM Consortium is one of
two multistate consortia to receive
federal grants to create a next-generation
alternate assessment
linked to Common Core State
Standards in math and English
Language Arts for the 1 percent
population. DLM member states
are involved during every phase of
DLM-AAS development.
DLM Consortium States
Iowa • Kansas • Michigan
Mississippi • Missouri
New Jersey • North Carolina
Oklahoma • Utah • Vermont
Virginia • Washington
West Virginia • Wisconsin
Technology-Enhanced Items
The Dynamic Learning Maps
Alternate Assessment System
is a comprehensive assessment
system being designed to support
student learning and to more
validly measure what students with
significant cognitive disabilities
know and can do. It will mark the
first time that most students with
significant cognitive disabilities
are assessed using an online,
computer-based, large-scale state
assessment.
The DLM assessment will
include a mix of test items in
traditional multiple-choice formats
as well as in technology-enhanced
formats. When properly used, these
technology-enhanced items allow
student test-takers to demonstrate
some aspects of cognition better
than is possible with traditional
items on a paper-and-pencil test.
For example, items can be created
to require active sorting, labeling,
categorizing, or matching, not
just recognition. These processes
reflect typical classroom activities
and will therefore increase the
instructional relevance of the
assessment.
DLM will use computer
technology to allow students with
significant cognitive disabilities to
demonstrate what they know and
can do, but with the awareness that
technology has to be accessible in
order for students to experience its
benefits.
“Even though we are excited
to use the power of computer
technology as we continue
development of the DLM
assessment, we recognize that
technology can be a barrier
for some students,” said Neal
Kingston, DLM project director, “We
want to use the technology in a
meaningful way that doesn’t cause
additional barriers for students.”
Accordingly, DLM technology-enhanced
items are being
crafted in ways that account
for the following, which guide
development:
1) Some students will be able to
engage in technology-enhanced
items by using a
mouse.
2) Some students will not be
able to engage in technology-enhanced
items using a mouse
and might engage using touch
screen technology, one- or two-switch
scanning systems, or
other assistive technology
devices.
3) Some students, perhaps
10 percent of the approximately
1 percent who participate
in alternate assessments, are
operating at the pre-symbolic
or pre-intentional levels, or
have such significant
motor challenges that they will
not be able to interact with the
computer at all. Therefore,
DLM will provide ways for these
students to access the items
offline, outside of the computer-based
environment, and
then the teacher will enter the
student’s responses into the
computer.
see Technology on page 2